Monday, May 17, 2010

This is from a great set of 35mm negatives I acquired this weekend at an estate sale. There are about 200 negatives in this set and I am still going through them to see what I have. These jumped right out and bit me. Times Square, new York City from 1939. How cool is that! They are even exposed properly. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

This is an original poster created for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition at Treasure Island in San Francisco. This poster was printed by Schmidt Litho in San Francisco and is dated copyright 1937. I purchased this poster from Cathy Pimpan at T.E.L. in Berkeley, CA for a song but it was in really sad condition as you can see from the first photo. I asked around about poster restoration and mounting services and was referred to this company in Escondido, CA called Poster Mountain where they performed an absolute miracle restoration on this rare poster. You can see more of this process along with descriptions here.

The last two images are the final stages of restoration. These folks at Poster Mountain are true artists that are providing a tremendous service to preservationists and collectors alike. I highly recommend them.

Friday, May 7, 2010

The first item here is a neat little hanging pot holder made from brass wire. It has those great Atomic style ends on the top and bottom. The influence that this style had on everyday household items never ceases to amaze me.

Next we have a really cool danish modern, starburst clock. The wood is either teak or rosewood and the arms are brass with painted plastic ball ends. This is a wind up clock. It ticks really loud tic...tic...tic...

Finally, we have this magnificent Heywood Wakefield utility headboard in the 82" King-Size variety. A wonderful lady from Reno was nice enough to bring it down to me. These are pretty hard to come by as not many folks had King beds back in the '50's. I am pretty stoked!

Went to Alameda Point last Sunday and came back with some pretty neat stuff. First off I found a great pair of brass wall sconce bullet lamps with teak/rosewood handles and starlight pin holes. They are pretty bitchin'!

Next I found a Blue Chip Stamp Catalog from 1963. It's amazing how much of my shit can be found in these catalogs. That's why I luv 'em so much.

Next came a really nice set of Silvestri Bros. Chalkware Asian boudoir lamps with white Venetian metal lampshades. They so cute! They are marked Silvestri Bros.1960.

Last, came a book called "San Francisco, A Pageant" written in 1933. This is a first edition, first printing signed by both the author and the illustrator. It is a gorgeous book about the history of San Francisco in a narrative format.I will post some pictures as soon as I take 'em, maybe this weekend. That's it for now.

This blog is about my weekend adventures hunting for 1950's era "Atomic Age" stuff. I stumble upon so many cool items and have so many stories to tell about acquiring them that I just have to share. I also will go into vivid detail about the items and their history.